The Power of Three
by fantasy1290
Summary: What if it wasn't Hagrid who got Harry away from the Dursleys and instead it was his mother Lily, back from the dead as a powerful demon? Needless to say she isn't too happy about how her children were treated. Did I say children? Harry isn't just a twin, he's a triplet, and each of them may or may not have powers of their own. Harry/Multi


The Power of Three

Prologue

The man (or monster) known as Voldemort casually walked towards the house of the Potters.

Tonight was the night, he thought, when he'd finally assure himself of the immortality he'd long been seeking, the vain hope of a prophecy laid waste.

If he had been capable of feeling gleeful, he would have been so now.

The Potters had done well in protecting their children, but they should have known nobody ever escaped Lord Voldemort.

No one.

Even now a dozen death eaters were currently surrounding their home, sealing off any and all possible avenues of escape including anti-apparition, anti-portkey, and anti-floo wards while he entered alone.

This one he would take personally.

Resistance he expected would be nothing to really concern him. A quick scan of the building had ascertained that there were 5 individuals inside.

From what he'd gleaned himself along with what Wormtail had told him, neither James or Lily Potter even fighting together would prove to be any match for him.

As for the other three, they were still mere infants, 2 boys and a girl, but it was for them that he was here tonight.

The prophecy he had heard clearly referred to them, it could be no other. It referenced magical triplets and they were in fact the only magical triplets born anywhere in the world in the last decade.

When they had been born, some had assumed that they would one day be quite powerful for being triplets, but he wasn't about to sit back to find out if that proved to be true or not.

He'd be nipping this whole prophecy business in the bud right now, cementing his quest for immortality.

As he blasted in the door, he then heard a frightened yell:

"Lily! He's here! Take the children and run, just go!"

He grinned maliciously. That would be James Potter. He so loved it when his prey he was about to kill tried to vainly flee before him.

Unfortunately for them, they would soon realize that escape was impossible, trapped like rats atop a sinking ship.

Even better the fool was attempting to face him alone to buy his wife and children time, such a typical stupid Gryffindor act, he thought.

Upon walking through the smoking, partially burning wreckage of what was once the front door, he found James Potter standing bravely in front of him.

He momentarily thought about dragging this out and torturing him a bit but he decided against it, the deaths of the children would be satisfying enough.

Nevertheless his enemy tried to put up a good fight, dodging several spells and throwing a few of his own but nothing he couldn't handle.

Finally however a killing curse got his quarry right in the chest and he stepped over his body on his way up the stairs.

It did not take much effort to locate his wife Lily or the babies either.

One or more of the babies were currently crying, likely from all the noise that his blasting the front door down had created, practically creating a siren letting him know where they were.

He found her inside a nursery of some sort, the 3 children inside of one large crib while the very recently widowed Lily stood in front of them, doing her best to act as a shield.

Lily at least he'd already decided to spare as long as it wasn't too much hassle. He had after all promised he wouldn't to Snape, with Snape clearly having a major soft spot for her.

It was easy to see why as he looked at the woman. While he had never been weak enough to fall to the sexual appetites of regular foolish mortals, he had to admit that she was truly an exceptionally beautiful woman, each of her features totally flawless with incredible curves and skin, her long red hair completing the picture of perfection.

Her eyes however were what got his attention, a beautiful emerald green that currently showed fear as well as determination in them.

However he opted to at least give her a chance first.

"Stand aside girl!" He insisted, "I just want the children. Stand aside and I'll let you live."

"No!" She yelled.

However her voice came out far deeper than it should have been as he watched her seem to change before his very eyes.

Her teeth began to elongate into long, sharp fangs; her fingernails grew and sharpened into claws as her skin turned even more pale.

Yet it was once again those eyes again that he found the most disconcerting, they had now changed color to purple. They appeared to be savage, hungry eyes as if yearning to kill.

The very air around her seemed to be permeated with dark and powerful magic.

He was so surprised he stepped back a step.

Never in all his years had he seen nor heard of such a creature as her.

That got to him. A portion of the prophecy came to mind.

"They shall have the power that He knows not."

If he didn't know what she was and if perhaps her children had inherited such a condition...

He glanced over at the children still crying in their crib.

Using subtle magic, he ascertained the children did indeed have faint traces of the same dark magic around them but he could only guess if it might grow with time.

Well since he'd be killing them tonight anyway it hardly mattered. Whatever she was nobody was stronger than him.

"What are you?" He demanded.

"Death," She answered in that same deep, dark voice.

He laughed at that.

"I have already overcome death," He claimed, "you cannot kill me."

She held up her wand and said, "we shall see."

As soon as she lunged, he struck with his first spell, one designed to blow her to bits.

Of course she could have simply dodged it, but doing so would have caused it to then hit her children instead so she was forced to conjure a shield.

That was her major weakness, he concluded. She could not dodge spells as that would only kill her children in her place. How pathetic, he thought. Her love for her children would be what did her in.

While it was an advantage he did not need, he figured he could just use spells that shields would not work on. However before he could declare victory, she shot a spell directly at him.

He conjured up a shield...and was shocked when the spell literally blasted the shield apart.

The recoil from the destroyed shield caused him to back up a step. He did not even need to look his head over to know that he was bleeding.

Impressive, he thought. Very impressive. It had been a long time since anyone had managed to injure him.

She shot another spell at him and this time he countered with a spell of his own, the two spells colliding and exploding in midair.

Before it could dissipate however he shot another spell at her.

She then had no choice but to take it head on, literally head on as it was designed to take her head clean off.

Instead, her head remained on as the spell seemed to dissolve into her body.

Impossible! The magical resistance required to survive that spell...

It was almost a shame that a creature as powerful as her had to be destroyed, he couldn't imagine the potential she might have if she was on his side.

However even as they dueled he knew it was only a matter of time before he wore her down. No magical resistance lasted forever.

It appeared to be so as she seemed to be getting weaker, the spells that she was trying to hit him with were more infrequent and she appeared to be getting tired.

Finally he opted to just finish her off with a killing curse, which she took dead on.

Dead on, he could kill people with that humor. Now that was his idea of a joke.

She collapsed onto the ground, no match for the ultimate of Unforgivables, the Killing Curse.

He stepped to the side of his now fallen foe to look down into the crib where his real targets were.

Looking down he spotted the 3 infants, each of them now crying. Two boys and a girl.

So these pathetic weaklings were what was supposed to defeat him.

They looked totally defenseless he thought. Then he thought of their mother. She was truly powerful whatever she was and with some training... Perhaps these children had inherited the same gift...possibly...

At any rate, none of them could be allowed to live, not when they posed such a threat. Raising his wand, he aimed it at one of the boys.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He roared.

The green light shot from his wand but instead of it hitting a red light encircled around all 3 children.

Then...everything exploded, everything around him suddenly engulfed in a huge blast of green light.

Still he did not get to see what happened after to that to them as he felt extreme pain beyond anything he had ever experienced as his body was ripped right from him.

Then it all went dark and he knew no more.

Chapter 1

Nearly 11 year old Harry Potter sighed, wiping the sweat away from his brow.

They had been assigned the task of pulling weeds in one of the neighbor's yard and what with the hot sun overhead it was really taking its toll on them. He had no watch, but he'd guess they'd already been at the job at least several hours. Fortunately they were already almost done.

"Do you need some more water Harry?" His sister Fern asked gently as she held out her water bottle for him.

He stopped his work for a moment to look up at her.

Fern appeared to be just as sweaty as he was, but she still was somehow managing to look just as pretty as ever, her long black hair framing her perfect face and violet eyes.

Those same violet eyes, as peculiar and beautiful as they were however now looked at him with concern.

"Where did you get the water?" He asked suspiciously.

It would be just like Fern to give up some of her own water for him...not that he hadn't done the same for her many times much to her annoyance whenever she found out.

"Mrs. Figg refilled it for me," She admitted.

He decided to take it then as he really was thirsty, taking a long hard drink as his sister watched looking pleased.

"Be sure and thank Mrs. Figg for me," He suggested to her.

Fern nodded and said, "she also said to just ask if we needed some more."

He grunted, grateful for that. Far too many neighbors didn't seem to realize that they might get thirsty when on jobs for them. Mrs. Figg fortunately was usually pretty nice about that and she paid better than most.

They wouldn't be going to bed hungry tonight at least.

The only reason they were helping Mrs. Figg was not so that they could get a little extra spending money however...it was actually because their Aunt and Uncle who they unfortunately lived with had insisted that they "earn their keep" by the time they were 8, which basically meant finding work wherever they could, doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, selling candy and toys at school, pretty much anything available to them at such a young age. If they didn't earn enough in a given week it usually meant being "punished" usually through less meals but sometimes his Uncle would get out his belt.

When that happened he would usually try to persuade Uncle Vernon to let him take Fern's share, the physical pain was far better than having to see or hear her cry.

Fern was such a caring person, she didn't deserve any of that.

It was a rather miserable life, but it was the only one they knew and it was better than living on the streets at least.

However they were unfortunately not the only ones in such a situation.

They had a triplet brother named Andrew who also was at the mercy of their Aunt and Uncle's "hospitality."

His situation was a bit better though.

He'd managed to get a job polishing shoes just outside the fanciest store in town that did not require him having to worry about child working age laws.

It turned out that Andrew had a knack for pleasing people even if he didn't actually like them.

Still he continued to do it since it got him more money and the Dursleys off his back. He never was punished by them, always got full meals, and had even been allowed to sleep on the spare mattress in Dudley's second bedroom under the condition that nothing else in the room be considered his.

Unfortunately he and Fern were not so lucky. They still had to share the cupboard under the stairs, they still frequently had times when they had to do without for meals, and the Dursleys still pretty much considered them only valuable as pretty much their slaves.

However they at least had each other. Fern was his best friend and she was his and together they'd always managed to come up with something.

Fern was however unfortunately very shy and being a girl was considered an obvious target of their cousin Dudley's to tease and torture in some way, even going out of his way to make sure that none of the other kids at their school would play with them.

He however tried to draw Dudley away from her and onto him as much as he could, even though in his case that usually meant Dudley beating him up.

Still he considered it worth it if Fern was safe.

His brother Andrew on the other hand could be a bit difficult sometimes, but he wanted to believe that he was generally a good person. If he did get a little angry sometimes, he really couldn't blame him. He had it nearly as bad as they did.

Just as he was starting on another large group of weeds, Fern currently working alongside him, they heard a familiar voice greet them.

"Hello siblings," Andrew said tiredly.

They looked up to find their triplet sibling currently standing over on the sidewalk looking at them.

"Hi Andrew," Fern greeted back as she wiped her sweaty brow, "how did you make out today in tips?"

Andrew just shook his head and said, "about the same as usual."

That was basically Andrew's way of saying that he made a whole lot more than they were making without being too much of a jerk and coming right out and saying it.

"It amazes me how much people will waste on making sure their shoes are shined," Fern commented.

Their brother just shook his head again and admitted, "that's because they're all just rich, lazy fat cats. They only pay me so much because I suck up to them so bad."

He supposed that was the downside to his job. Andrew really only seemed to like it because of the money he made. He even would comment sometimes that he wished he could trade places with them sometimes.

That's when they heard another voice call to them, and this one unlike Andrew's was certainly not a welcome one.

"Oh no," Fern said in worry, "it's Dudley."

He put an arm around her trying to reassure her as best he could.

Great, just what they needed, he thought, Dudley to come try and stop them from finishing working somehow, either through standing there and taunting them or coming up with some chore he came up with and went to their Aunt about getting them to do.

Often he'd mess up his own room just so that he could get the smug satisfaction of watching them clean it.

"I'll get rid of him," Andrew offered.

Despite Dudley's overwhelmingly poor treatment of him and Fern, for some reason he never messed with Andrew. They could never seem to figure out why almost as if Andrew scared him for some reason, like he had some sort of anti-Dudley repellant in his pocket.

It was a shame neither he or Fern seemed to have any.

"What is it Dudley?" Andrew asked tiredly as he walked over to him.

"Mom wants one of you freaks to make dinner," Dudley said smugly.

"I'll do it," Andrew offered.

"No, she wants one of you lesser earning ones to do it," Dudley insisted as he pointed a large, fat finger at him and Fern.

Partly so Fern wouldn't have to go through with it, he offered, "I'll go."

Dudley instead fixed on Fern with his beady eyes and announced, "I want the girl freak to do it."

"I already said I would do it Dudley," Harry argued.

His cousin however wasn't listening as he went over to Fern, a smirk lining his face as he commanded her, "you'll do what I say!"

Without warning, he punched her right in the gut, causing her to double over in pain.

Both he and Andrew instantly went towards Dudley, not caring at all what sort of punishment they might get for fighting back or the fact that Dudley was still bigger than both of them combined.

Dudley had finally crossed the line: he'd hit their sister. Somehow the idea that Dudley would always be at least big enough not to at least not physically hurt Fern now appeared to be null and void.

He and Andrew reached him at the same time as they both put their hands on either of Dudley's arms.

Instantly Dudley let out a wail of pain.

Andrew however was not impressed.

"We're only just touching you, you big baby," He remarked.

Dudley however began to cry as he twisted his arms to get away, sounding and looking like he was an absolute pain.

Finally both of them let go of him as Dudley decided to run for the house.

"What a total ham," Andrew said as he watched him go, "he's probably just doing this so we'll get more into trouble."

As for himself he wasn't entirely so sure. Not that Dudley wouldn't stoop so low but that he had looked like he was actually in serious pain for some reason.

"In any case, I'd say we're going to be in major trouble," Harry said gravely.

He could already almost feel the belt welts.

"I'm sorry," Fern apologized, looking terrified for them. She clearly hated either of them getting punished for her sake.

"It's not your fault," Andrew insisted, "besides we're not about to let Dudley get away with that."

"I always hoped that Dudley would at least never hit a girl," Fern replied, still holding her stomach, "evidently I was wrong."

"Aunt Petunia probably just decided she didn't care if he did or not anymore. She's jealous of your good looks," Andrew explained.

"How do you know?" Fern asked.

"The people I shine shoes for are as equally vain," Andrew admitted.

"I wish I was ugly then, maybe Aunt Petunia wouldn't be so mean to me then," Fern said miserably.

At that moment, they heard a scream all the way over from where they were.

He sighed and said, "I'd imagine that's Aunt Petunia. Come on, better to go face it."

As soon as they got back inside the house, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia approached them, a still crying Dudley in their arms.

"BOYS!" Uncle Vernon roared, "HOW DARE YOU HURT DUDLEY!"

He already had his belt off as he swung it at Andrew, clipping him in the cheek as it left a big red mark where it had struck.

Normally their Uncle tried to at least hit them where it wasn't visible so no one would ask questions if they saw it, but as angry as he was, he didn't really seem to care at the moment and that certainly worried him. If Uncle Vernon was that angry it meant this was going to be very long and painful, likely with meal privileges taken away for a few days as well. However he knew from experience that if they resisted, it would only go worse for them.

He however winced and braced for impact as Uncle Vernon brought his belt around again to strike him. In order to protect his face, he looked down and closed his eyes, expecting to feel the sting of the belt buckle any moment.

However it never came.

Tentatively, after a second, he opened his eyes and looked up again...only to see a red haired woman now standing in front of him, currently holding the other end of the belt buckle that had been meant for him. She was currently facing away from him, so he couldn't see her face, just the back of her long red hair and black cloak.

His Uncle however looked shocked at the sudden appearance of this woman.

Frankly he was shocked as well. Just where had she come from. She was however the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and yet...she seemed so familiar. However surely he should have

"THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT THEM!" She roared in anger.

Without a word and without even so much as touching him, their Uncle went flying backwards into the wall before crumpling onto the floor unconscious.

His Aunt however seemed to not even notice this, so focused on this strange woman that had appeared, a look of absolute horror on her face.

"You-you're supposed to be dead," She commented, "they told us you were-"

"Fortunately I find myself now once again part of the living," The woman replied coldly, "I am however surprised they are even still alive under the supposed care you've been giving them for the last 10 years. Whoever's blasted idea it was to have you raise them-"

"They forced us to raise them!" Aunt Petunia screeched, "they said they'd turn us into newts or some such a thing. You think it was easy watching over those bratlings?"

"Bratlings?" The mystery woman exclaimed in anger. She sounded like she was ready to kill Aunt Petunia...which admittedly wouldn't be too great a loss to humanity, but then surprisingly Fern surprisingly interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Fern suddenly asked of the woman.

The question caught him by surprise because of the one asking. Usually Fern was very shy, and she usually only spoke to people she felt comfortable with...which was basically just him and Andrew. Almost like, with himself, she somehow knew this woman.

The woman then turned to face Fern, and in so doing finally turned to face him.

When she finally turned around, he gasped in shock. He had never seen a picture of her, or been told what she looked like by his relatives, but he automatically knew who she was as he gazed into her face.

Her reply to his sister's question only confirmed it as she smiled warmly, allowing herself to calm down a bit before announcing, "I'm your mother."

Author's Note: Love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Please Review.


End file.
